


anti-hero

by harleykeenerprotectionsquad



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Anti-Hero, Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fake Science, Gen, Harleys mom and sister died, Hero Peter Parker, M/M, May Dies Sorry :(, Multi, Mutual Pining, Neb is a Stark but like not really, Nebula (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Nebula is like the older sister, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper Potts Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Peter Parker Stark - Freeform, Peter and Harley aren't assholes I promise, Slow Burn, Stark Tower, The Avengers Are Good Bros, Timeline What Timeline, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony adopts Peter, Tony is Harleys guardian - not foster parent or adoptive parent, Villain Harley Keener, everyone lives in the tower
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-08 01:44:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19097224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harleykeenerprotectionsquad/pseuds/harleykeenerprotectionsquad
Summary: AUin which harley is a villain named catalyst who is a snarky sonofabitch, peter is a hero named spider-man who is hell-bent on catching him, morgan wants a juice box and tony is just a tired dad.or when harley and peter live under the same roof, hate each other as housemates, but unknowingly fall in love as their alter egos.get ready for fake science and a weird ass timeline.





	anti-hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> special thanks to @bumbblebeeeeee on tumblr for helping me brain storm :)) <3

 

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Harley Keener was a mad scientist. At least that's what some people say. Harley thought of himself as more of a visionary. An icon. A —

“Harley Keener!” The slightly high pitched yell of his mentor, Tony Stark, Iron Man, Mr. I have seven PhDs, came out through one of FRIDAY’s speakers.

The A.I in question seemed more than pleased to allow Tony to commandeer her speaker. She didn't even have one snarky comment.

He rolled his eyes, pushing his chair back so that it spun. “Hi, Tony. Did you find the glitter?”

The man paused, clearly contemplating his existence, and Harley cringed, a smirk playing on his lips. Faintly he heard a tiny laugh, but he ignored it.

Harley sucked on his teeth, “So that's a no. Dang. I was really hoping to get you and Parker with that. It would've been hilarious to see —”

A loud sigh broke him off. “Keener. Just...come down to the lab or I will come up there.”

Harley was standing up, smiling, as another laugh came through the speaker - louder this time. He stomached a grimace. Parker. Asshole.

He shook his head, grabbing his jacket and strode out of his room in Stark Tower. Not before throwing a stink bomb in Parker's room across the hall. Bit old fashioned but it worked.

The elevator opened as he walked up to it, and started going down without prompt. Harley huffed, smiling softly. “FRI, did Tony order you to only take me to the lab?”

“BOSS said to not let you escape.”

Harley laughed, slightly amused, slightly apprehensive. “Of course he did. I wonder what I did…”

FRIDAY failed to comment.

The last time he went to the lab was when he came to the tower late after his plans were thrown astray again by the human spider. He'd accidentally ripped his face mask and was trying to fix it. Hopefully, they hadn't found that and had only discovered an unused prank.

Harley reckoned that a prank was a bit easier to explain then why he had the mask of The Catalyst.

Harley was a bit proud of his name. He wasn't really a chemist(more of a biomechanic), but it's still cool. Cooler than anything Parker could come up with, anyway.

He shook off any apprehension and squared his shoulders as the elevator doors opened.

His slightly narrowed eyes happened upon Tony and Parker. The former looking rather upset and the latter looking all too pleased with the current situation.

Harley ignored Parker and walked right up to Tony, folding his arms in the same position as his mentor.

“Harley.”

“Tony.”

Parker bit his lip to keep from laughing, and Harley tried very hard not to glare at him. He ignored the fact that he failed a small bit.

“You want to tell me why there is a fu—”

“Mr. Stark!”

“—cking bomb at your desk, Keener?”

Harley stifled a laugh at Parker's expression and rolled his eyes. “It's not really a bomb, Tony.”

Tony snorted, straightening his back to be a little taller. He was still shorter than Harley, which always put a grin on his face. “Oh, it's not then. Tell me what is it then?”

He smirked, shifting onto his left foot. “It's more of a...controlled explosion.”

Parker rolled his eyes while Tony laughed in a way that was obvious that he was not happy.

“Controlled explosion.” Tony’s eyes widened considerably. “Controlled explosion?! Why the hell do you have a controlled explosion in the lab? No bullshit Keener.”

“Mr. Stark, if I may—”

Harley narrowed his eyes. “You may not, Parker. The adults are talking.”

He ignored the apologetic look Tony shot Parker, and instead reveled in the feeling of seeing Parker's annoyed face.

Harley grinned, eager explain his thought process. “Tony, there was a reason there was a lot of explosions yesterday. Nearly lit myself on fire. Anyway, I was experimenting with the various fuels that I can put in a Molotov cocktail. ‘Cause I was like, it needs to be bigger. If you coat the wick in a mixture of nitrocellulose, kerosene, and tar, the fireball is so much bigger and the smoke cloud, ha, the smoke cloud is blindin—”

“Kid. Stop.” Tony ran his hands through his hair, looking far too old for his age. “I...love that you're doing this. Just...you have to be careful. I don't know what you did last night, but this morning Peter was cleaning up near it and you…you hurt Peter, kid.”

Harley's chest felt hollow as he took in the words. Shame filled him as he looked at the boy he'd been ignoring and saw cuts and slight burns on his arms that hadn't been there before. Parker looked down, playing with his foot. For once, he wasn't wearing a smug or annoyed face whenever Harley was in the room.

An unwanted memory of someone else covered in burns forced its way into his mind's eye, and it took him clawing at his skin to make it go away.

A sharp pang twisted his heart as he looked at the slightly younger boy next to him. Tony's son. (Adoptive son, whatever). God...he blew up Tony's son.

Harley swallowed his pride and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Hey, Parker. I'm really sorry man. I shouldn't have left that thing around. Are you okay?”

Parker huffed, rubbing his injured arm. “No thanks to you.”

Whatever regret or sorrow he felt for Parker vanished. “Wow. I knew you were an asshole, I just didn't know you were a bratty one too.”

Parker scowled at him, eyes flashing with an unknown emotion before he shoulder checked Harley in the side and strode out of the lab.

Harley rubbed his shoulder absentmindedly. Parker was strong as hell, he'd give him that. He awkwardly glanced up at Tony, who looked about ready to scream. Or pass out. Whichever came first.

Tony rubbed his eyes, obscuring the black circles. “Kid. I know you're sorry. I'm not mad. Annoyed—yes. You need to be more careful with the things you make here. Peter definitely needs to learn to not mess around with unfinished projects.”

Tony sighed, uncrossing his arms. “Peter knows you're sorry, and I definitely don't think he thinks you meant to blow him up. I don't think he cares though. Another thing to add to his list of reasons to hate Harley Keener.”

Harley ignored the slight pain in his chest at being hated. He didn't give a shit what Parker thought about him.

“He has such a big heart,” Tony ignored Harley’s snort, “but you and him...I wish you guys got along.”

Harley grimaced. “Tony… I don't think there's a world where Parker and I get along.”

  
  
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He adjusted the black mask over his face. He sat perched on the black tar rooftop overlooking the bright lights of the city.

His hands absentmindedly played with the black gravel, staining his fingertips. He stretched out his legs, wincing when his knees popped. He couldn't wait to get out of the pants he was wearing.

A mixture of silicone and leather — the same material as Captain A(ss)merica’s suit. Less colorful of course.

One of his newer creations laid right beside him. Waiting to be used. He wasn't going to touch it though—not yet.

His eyes were following a particularly interesting helicopter when out of the corner of his eye he saw someone silently swing from behind and land ten feet from him, hidden in darkness. He tried to ignore his heart speeding up, or chest growing warm.

He knew who it was. Not that he had been waiting for him. That's preposterous. He wouldn't wait for his arch-nemesis.

He scoffed at himself, leisurely tilting his head back so his enemy was in his line of sight — abet upside down.

“Hey, Spidey.” Harley grinned. A bit like a madman. He didn't think about that.

“What do you think you're doing?”

Harley widely gestured at his mini chem lab that lay haphazardly to the right of him. “Clearly something evil.” 

The white slits of Spider-Man's mask narrowed, and Harley liked to think that the boy was rolling his eyes.

“Take off your mask and I'll tell you.” Harley twisted his lips in a half smirk. Worth a shot.

Spider-Man scoffed, a sound that in the back of Harley's head, was eerily familiar. “Sure. If you take yours off too.”

Harley spun around, landing on his stomach with his feet kicking in the air, head resting on his hands. “If you really wanted me to get undressed, you should've said so.” Harley tried to sound as flirtatious as possible while looking him up and down obviously.

Just for science. He wasn't this bad at flirting in real life. Not that he was trying.

Spider-Man’s eyes widened, and he looked slightly confused. Harley laughed silently. The kid behind the mask (because it clearly was someone around his own age) was definitely someone who got extremely awkward because of flirting.

Another thing to note. Harley coughed subtlety. Know thy enemy and all that.

“Um...What are you doing.” Spider-Man tried again, thrown off his rhythm.

Harley stood up quickly, brushing off the black dust and ignoring the way Spider-Man suddenly went back on guard. “Stargazing. What do you think I'm doing?”

The other boy paused. “Well. You are in your suit.”

Harley smiled. “Astute observation, Spidey.”

Spider-Man shifted on his feet. “Even if you’re not doing anything...illegal now, I can still have you arrested.” Yet he made no move to tie him up with his webs.

He tensed, preparing to jump away, but nothing happened. “Since we've both come to the conclusion that I am doing nothing wrong, how about we just call it a night?”

He pressed the button on his left arm, and his mini chem lab shrined up and flew into his right wrist. Harley stumbled a bit from the force but caught himself before he fell.

Harley coughed and smirked, staring into the white eyes of Spider-Man's mask. A warm feeling flooded his veins and his cheeks burned. “Well, bye!”

With a swish of his hand, a bright white light appeared, a thin line from his toes to above his head. He waved goodbye to Spider-Man over his shoulder and stepped inside, reappearing in his own bedroom at Stark Towers.

A web halfheartedly shot through after him and got cut in half when Harley closed the portal.

Harley dusted off the remaining power off his legs before carefully peeling off his black gloves. With his hands free, he pulled off his black mask, shaking his head.

Harley ran his hands through his hair and tried not to think about what he'd been doing up there. It wasn't as if he was working. He did that in his lab in Queens. He wasn't testing either; he did that to himself by himself.

As Harley pulled on long pajama pants that were also a loose version of his suit and slid into his black pajama long sleeve shirt that also doubled as a suit, he tried not to think about the real reason he had really been up on that roof.

And it certainly wasn't for the city view.

 

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**Author's Note:**

> scream at me on my tumblr: harleykeenerprotectionsquad


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